Eagles Get Loss and Lonely Feeling : Soccer: Only 150 come out to see U.S. International Soccer League team lose, 3-2.

John Campbell was hoping for a coming-out party. Instead, he got a lonely feeling Friday night.

For that matter, so did everyone else at Moorpark High.

Campbell, owner of the Valley Golden Eagles, had said earlier in the week that he would be “astonished” if the U.S. International Soccer League team didn’t draw 1,000 fans for its Ventura County debut. But only about 150 showed up to watch the L.A. Salsa beat the Eagles, 3-2, on Bobby Bruch’s goal three minutes into sudden death overtime.

“We were worried as hell about that,” Campbell said of the disappointing crowd.

“There are thousands of (youth soccer) teams out here, so there should be no reason why we shouldn’t do well. It’s just a matter of people getting used to who we are.

“It’s strictly a matter of hanging in there until it happens.”

The Eagles (1-1) did a good job of hanging in against the Salsa (2-1) despite being without three of their top players.

Armando Valdivia was in New York to attend a wedding, Jesus Gonzalez was out because of a pulled hamstring, and Mike Gregorian is expected to miss one to two weeks because of a bruised knee suffered in last week’s 1-0 victory over the Las Vegas Quicksilvers.

“They’re the offense,” Campbell said of the missing threesome.

As for the missing fans, Campbell said Friday night’s crowd was less than the Eagles drew for any of their 10 home games at Valley College last season, where they averaged about 500 fans per game.

After a scoreless first half, the Eagles and Salsa traded goals in the second half.

The Eagles’ Ed Burns scored on a head shot with 13:21 left in the second half to make it 1-0, and Carlos Acosta scored on a penalty kick with 5:43 left to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead.

The Salsa tied it on Bruch’s first goal on a penalty kick with 2:49 left in regulation.

Despite the loss, Dave Zimmer of Camarillo, who brought his son Ryan to the game, believes the Eagles will catch on with the public once the word gets out.

“For the locality and the price, how can you go wrong?” Zimmer said. “I’m surprised there’s not more people here.

“It’s a crying shame.”

Campbell knows how he feels.